Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry on Thursday ordered the Inspector General of Frontier Corps (IGFC) in Balochistan to appear before the court at any cost on Friday and produce the missing persons; otherwise a case would be registered against him. A four-member bench of apex court headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry was hearing the missing persons' case at SC's Karachi Registry.
During case's proceedings, Defence Minister Khwaja Mohammad Asif, along with the Attorney General for Pakistan (AGP) and Balochistan representative for missing persons Nasarullah Baloch appeared before the court. The bench expressed annoyance over the absence of FC officials and questioned why 35 missing persons had not been produced before the court.
The CJP ordered that the IG FC must produce the missing persons by today (Friday), otherwise, a case would be registered against him; after which the court would also ensure the implementation of its order and direct the police to arrest him.
The Chief Justice inquired if the Prime Minister of the country watched television as the families of the missing persons had walked from as far away as Quetta up to Karachi and said it was embarrassing that women and children had to come all the way here to seek justice.
In his response, Defence Minister Khawaja Asif said he would meet the families of the missing persons and take responsibility for resolving the matter.
Asif said that as many as 738 missing persons had been found and it would take months not years to find the remaining ones.
He told the court that the government was determined to find out the whereabouts of missing persons and they would soon be recovered. Expressing dissatisfaction over the progress of the case, the chief justice said people had pinned hopes on the new government but the situation had not changed qualitatively.
Quoting instances of people who were abducted with the help of helicopters, the larger bench stated that the name of an intelligence agency kept coming up in the case.
The bench further said the Frontier Corps (FC) was responsible for the law and order situation in Balochistan and asked the IG FC to appear before the court and explain the security situation.
The Chief Justice remarked that federal and provincial governments in Balochistan seemed helpless before the FC, adding it appeared that the FC was running the government affairs.
Allowing him one more day, the court asked the defence minister to produce missing persons before it adjourned the hearing till Friday.
Later, talking to media persons in Karachi Khawaja Asif said 738 missing persons have been located in the last four months.
On Balochistan issue‚ the Defence minister said a popular provincial government had been working to address the problems of the people of the province. "We are committed to ending exploitation and grievances of Baloch people," he said and added that Baloch would be given their due rights. To a question‚ Asif said Pakistan had raised the issue of drone attacks at all forums, including the top US leadership. He said these strikes amounted to violation of Pakistan's sovereignty and were therefore unacceptable.
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